Edward Hopper was born on this day July 22, 1882.
Edward Hopper in Nyack | Hudson River and Hook Mountain & Nyack Beach Loop, Palisades Park
American Artist Edward Hopper (1882-1967) was born and raised in Nyack, Rockland County, New York. The home he grew up in still stands because local stewards obtained its landmark status in the 1970s and eventually designation as an important historic house museum, The Edward Hopper House Museum & Research Center.
Hopper’s boyhood home on 82 North Broadway was perched on a rise with an unobstructed view downhill to the magnificent Hudson River with easy access to an active waterfront and smack dab in the middle of two worlds.
Stepping out the front door To the Right
To the right, it was a short walk to a cityscape: his father’s store, the train station, and all that was necessary for commerce in a bustling town at the turn of the century.
To the Left
To the left and surrounding streets nearby, it was a short walk to residential neighborhoods with a handsome array of American architectural styles common on the East Coast–but unique town by town.
photos above: Catherine Ryan. 718 North Broadway, Nyack | Edward Hopper. Seven AM. 1948. Whitney Museum
FURTHER LEFT to HOOK MOUNTAIN
Further on to the left (less than 5 miles) it was a quick trip by bike to a range of scenic landscapes: rural, farm and river view estates–until the last stop—the rugged wildness of Hook Mountain, a local icon (and historic landmark for navigation), part of the Palisades park system, with stunning cliff views.
In recent years trail advocates established a complete Hook Mountain and Nyack Beach loop that’s about six miles RT. It’s awesome.
HOPPER PULSE | HALLMARK HORIZONTAL COMPOSITION
We can traverse Nyack’s particular stretch of riverfront geography because North Broadway–on the street where Edward Hopper lived and returned to–bisects the terrain parallel to the river. No matter which direction one ambles, the reassuring view of the Hudson and distant riverbank stays fixed, stretching horizontally as far as the eye can see.
Westchester, Tarrytown across the river (and on a sunny day the Tarrytown lighthouse is visible)
Above: OAK HILL CEMETERY NYACK
Of all the places he resided or visited, he chose to be buried in Nyack. Turns out, you can’t take Hopper out of Nyack.
In Oak Hill Cemetery in Nyack, the grave of Edward Hopper and Jo Nivison are next to his parents and sister, high above the family home on North Broadway, with a view of the Hudson River and the unmistakable distant shore. And sited–fittingly for Hopper–on a corner, at a bend where paths converge.
American theater legend, Helen Hayes (Helen Hayes MacArthur, 1900-1993), owned a riverfront estate across the street and a few blocks down the road from the Hopper family home, humorously nicknamed ‘Pretty Penny’ (in the block of house photos above), and drawn resentfully by Hopper when Hayes commissioned a house portrait through his art dealer or so she wrote. (I may write more about that.) The painting was hung prominently and visible in publicity stills .
Hayes is buried in Nyack’s Oak Hill Cemetery further down Oak hill from the Hopper markers. There are four flat markers flush with the grass for her family. Sadly, her daughter died in 1949 at age 19 from polio before the vaccine.
The grave for American artist Joseph Cornell is located down and off to the right of Hayes.
Edward Hopper in Gloucester
Hopper’s impressions of Nyack are repeated in his art throughout his life.
For example, here are two pairs comparing Edward Hopper’s Gloucester works and Nyack.
Land across the Hudson | land across Gloucester Harbor–this is one way I identified Hopper’s site in Gloucester.
Hill down to the Hudson from a perpendicular street (North Broadway/his boyhood home) | Hill in Gloucester.
Good Morning Gloucester 